Whether the brain is aging is reversible depends on whether the environment is soft enough to grow

BEIJING, Aug. 15 (Xinhua
) -- British scientists writing in the 14th issue of nature say they have found a new way to reverse aging brain stem cells into younger, healthier states: growing on materials similar to the softness of young brains, which regenerate. The findings have far-reaching implications for understanding the aging process and developing age-related brain disease therapies.
multidisciplinary team, led by the Stem Cell Institute at the University of Cambridge, studied the brains of young and older mice to understand the effects of age-related brain hardening on the function of less progeny glial cells (OPCs). OPCs are brain stem cells that are important for maintaining normal brain function and myelin (the fat that surrounds nerves). But as you get older, OPCs can become dysfunctional and even lead to multiple sclerosis.
to determine whether the loss of function of aging OPCs was reversible, the researchers transplanted OPCs from older rats into the soft spongy brains of young rats. The results showed that older brain cells regained their vitality and began to behave like younger, more energetic cells.
To fully understand the effects of the brain's softness and stiffness on cell behavior, the researchers studied a protein found on the cell surface called Piezo1, which "tells" cells whether their surroundings are soft or stiff. They developed new materials with different hardnesses in the lab and used them in rat brain stem cells grown in controlled environments, designed to have a softness similar to that of young or old brains.Dr Kevin Charut, one of the
's study leaders, said: "When we grow young, functioning rat brain stem cells on hard materials, these cells are dysfunctional and lose their ability to regenerate, and in fact they start to become like aging cells. However, as senescing brain stem cells grow on soft materials, they begin to function like young cells -- in other words, they are revitalised.
researchers say these new findings, which reverse the aging process of brain stem cells, are important for future treatments and provide a new goal for solving problems associated with aging and multiple sclerosis, including how to potentially restore lost brain function.